Where the bridge is to be supported by rafts made of solid timbers, these timbers should be first placed in the water, to ascertain their natural position of stability, and then the larger ends cut away on the under side, so as to present the least possible resistance to the action of the current. They are afterwards lashed together by strong rope or withe lashing, or fastened by cross-pieces let into the timbers, and held firm by bolts, or wooden pins. These rafts are kept in place by anchors and cables placed up and down stream. The roadway is formed in nearly the same manner as for a bridge supported on trestles. Empty casks, and other floating bodies, may be substituted in place of logs in the construction of rafts.

For examples of the use of rafts in the construction of military bridges, we would refer to the passage of the Seine in 1465 by Count Charolais; the passage of the Meuse in 1579, by Alexander Farnese; the passage of the Vistula in 1704, the Borysthenese in 1709, and the Sound in 1718, by Charles XII.; the passage of the Adige in 1796; the passage of the Po in 1807; and the subsequent military operations in the Spanish Peninsula.

Military bridges are frequently made of boats, and the ordinary river-craft found in the vicinity of the intended passage. Flat-bottomed boats are the most suitable for this purpose, but if these cannot be obtained, keel boats will serve as a substitute. When these water-craft are of very unequal sizes, (as is frequently the case,) two smaller ones may be lashed together to form a single support; they can be brought to the same level by means of stone ballast. The gunwales must be suitably arranged for supporting the balks, or else frameworks should be erected for this purpose from the centre of the boat. The arrangement of the roadway, anchors, &c., is the same as before.

A bridge-equipage made to follow an army in its movements in the field, is generally composed of light skiffs or batteaux, and the necessary timbers, planks, anchors, &c., for forming the roadway, and keeping the bridge in its position. All these articles are constructed especially for this purpose. All the wood-work should be of tough and well-seasoned timber, so as to impose no unnecessary weight on the wagon trains. The bateaux should also be made of strong and light materials. For convenience in transportation, these boats are sometimes made with hinges so as to fold up. The ribs are usually of oak, and the sides and bottom of pine. Instead of plank, a covering of tin, copper, India-rubber, &c., has sometimes been substituted. Floating supports of this character are often made in compartments, so as to prevent their sinking when injured by the enemy's projectiles. Indian-rubber pontons may be folded up into a small space, and their slight weight renders them convenient for transportation.

On navigable streams a part of the bridge resting on one or two bateaux should be so arranged that it can be shipped out of its place, forming a draw for the passage of river-craft. Indeed, it would be well, even where the river is not navigable, to form a draw for the passage of trees, and other floating bodies, sent down by the enemy against the bridge.

An ordinary bridge-equipage of bateaux, or light pontons, for crossing a river of from three to four hundred yards in width, and of moderate current, will require a train of from sixty to eighty wagons.[46] Under favorable circumstances, and with a well-instructed corps of pontoniers, the bridge may be thrown across the river, and prepared for the passage of an army in a few hours at most.[47] After the troops have passed over, the bridge may be taken up, and replaced on the wagons in from a quarter to half an hour.

[Footnote 46: The number of wagons in a ponton train will be greatly diminished if it be found that Indian-rubber boats may be used as supports for the bridge. The engineer department of our army are making experiments to determine this point.]

[Footnote 47: In 1746, three bridges of bateaux were thrown across the Po, near Placentia, each fifteen hundred feet in length, and entirely completed in eight hours. In 1757, two bridges of bateaux were thrown across the Rhine, at Wesel, in half an hour; again, in the same year, a third bridge was thrown across this river near Dusseldorf, in six hours. In 1841, Col. Birago, of the Austrian army, arrived on the bank of the Weisgerben arm of the Danube, with his bridge-equipage, at a round trot, and immediately began the construction of his bridge, without any previous preparation or examination. In less than three-quarters of an hour the bridge was completed, and three loaded four-horse wagons passed over on a trot, followed by a column of infantry.]

The following examples will serve to illustrate the use of different kinds of boat-bridges in military operations:—the passage of the Rhine, in 1702, by Villars; the passage of the Dnieper and the Bog, in 1739, by the Russians; the passage of the Danube, in 1740, by Marshal Saxe; the passage of the Rhine, near Cologne, in 1758, by the Prince of Clermont; the passage of the Rhine, in 1795, by Jourdan; the passage of the Rhine, at Kehl, in 1796, by Moreau; and again the same year, at Weissenthurn, and at Neuwied, by Jourdan; the bridges across the Rhine, at the sieges of Kehl and Huninguen, in 1797; the passage of the Limmat, in 1799, by Massena; the passages of the Mincio, the Adige, the Brenta, the Piava, &c., in 1800; the passages of these rivers again in 1805; the passages of the Narew, in 1807, by the Russians; the several passages of the Danube, in 1809, by the French and Austrian armies; the passages of the Tagus and Douro, in 1810, by the English; the passages of the Niemen, the Dwina, the Moskwa, and the Beresina, in 1812, by the French; and of the great rivers of Germany and France, in 1813 and 1814.

A floating body, propelled from one bank to the other by the current of the stream, is termed a flying-bridge. The usual mode of establishing a ferry of this kind, is to attach the head of the boat by means of a cable and anchor to some point near the middle of the stream. By steering obliquely to the current, the boat may be made to cross and recross at the same point. A single passage may be made in the same way, by the action of the current without the cable and anchor, but the boat in this case will be carried some distance down the stream. Rowboats are employed for crossing over infantry by successive debarkations; but this process is too slow for the passage of a large force; it may very well be resorted to as auxiliary to other means.

Steam craft are so common at the present day on all navigable streams, that an army in the field will frequently be able to avail itself of this means of passing the larger rivers. But, in a hostile country, or in one already passed over by the enemy, it will not be safe to rely with confidence upon obtaining craft of this character. A well-organized army will always carry in its train the means of effecting a certain and speedy passage of all water-courses that may intercept its line of march.

Flying-bridges or rowboats were employed in the passage of the Dwina, in 1701, by the Swedes; the passage of the Po, in 1701, by Prince Eugene; the passage of the Rhine, at Huninguen, in 1704; Jourdan's passage of the Rhine in 1795; Moreau's passage in 1796; the sieges of Kehl and Huninguen in 1797; Massena's passage of the Limmat, and Soult's passage of the Linth, in 1799; the passage of the Rhine, at Lucisteig in 1800; the passage of the Po, by the French, just before the battle of Marengo; and others in Italy, Germany, and Spain, in the subsequent campaigns of Napoleon.

Military bridges have sometimes been formed of ropes, cables stretched across the stream, and firmly attached at each end to trees, or posts let into the earth. If the shore is of rock, rings with staples let into the stone form the best means for securing the ends of the main ropes. Plank are laid on these cables to form the roadway. The ropes forming the "side-rail" of the bridge are passed over trestles at each shore, and then fastened as before. Short vertical ropes attach the main supports to these side ropes, in order that they may sustain a part of the weight passing over the bridge. Constructions of this character are fully described in Douglas's Essay on Military Bridges. For example, see the passage of the Po, near Casal, in 1515, by the Swiss; the bridge thrown over the Clain by Admiral Coligni, at the siege of Poitiers, in 1569; the operations of the Prince of Orange against Ghent and Bruges, in 1631; the passage of the Tagus, at Alcantara, in 1810, by the English; the bridge constructed across the Zezere, by the French, in 1810; the bridge thrown across the Scarpe, near Douai, in 1820; the experiments made at Fere in 1823, &c.

The passage of a river in the presence of an enemy, whether acting offensively or in retreat, is an operation of great delicacy and danger. In either case the army is called upon to show the coolest and most determined courage, for its success will depend on its maintaining the strictest discipline and good order.

In the case of a retreat the bridge should be covered by field intrenchments, called a tete de pont, and defended by a strong guard. If the river be of moderate width, the enemy may be kept at a distance by heavy batteries on the opposite shore. As soon as the passage is effected by the main body, the bridge, if permanent, will be blown up, or otherwise destroyed by the miners, and if floating, will be swung round to the other shore. The rear-guard will pass over in rowboats, or the end pontons detached for that purpose. An army retreating in the face of an enemy should never rely upon one single bridge, no matter what may be its character: for the slightest accident happening to it might expose the whole army to inevitable destruction.

The passage of a river by main force, against an enterprising and active enemy on the opposite shore, is always an operation of the greatest difficulty, and not unfrequently accompanied with the most bloody results.

The most effectual method of accomplishing this object is by stratagem. Demonstrations are made at several points at the same time: bodies of troops are thrown across, after nightfall, in rowboats or by flying-bridges, to get possession of the opposite bank. The vanguard of light cavalry may cross by swimming. The pontoniers should have their bridge equipage in readiness near the intended point of passage, so that it can be thrown across with the greatest possible rapidity, while the advanced guards are still able to keep the enemy at a distance. Under favorable circumstances the pontoniers will have the bridge in readiness for the passage of the army before the enemy can collect his troops upon the threatened point.

Cannon-balls and hollow shot are the most effectual means for destroying an enemy's bridge when our batteries can be planted within reach. When this cannot be done, we must resort to fire-boats, floating rafts, &c., to accomplish our object. Operations of this kind carried on in the night, are most likely to succeed.

To protect bridges from the action of these floating bodies, stockades, or floating chevaux-de-frise are constructed across the stream at some distance above the bridge; strong cables, or chains stretched directly across the river, or with an angle up stream, may be used in place of stockades, or in conjunction with them. Guards should be stationed above the bridge, with boats, ropes, grapnels, &c., for the purpose of arresting all floating bodies and drawing thorn ashore, or directing them safely through the draw in the bridge arrangement.

The troops especially charged with the construction and management of the various kinds of military bridges, are denominated pontoniers. The duties of these troops are arduous and important, and, in a country like ours, intersected by numerous water-courses, the success of a campaign will often depend upon their skill and efficiency.

Sapping.—This is a general term applied to the operations of forming trenches, along which troops may approach a work without being exposed to the fire of the besieged.

In addition to the ordinary sapping-tools, such as shovels, picks, gabion-forks, &c., used in constructing trenches, there will also be required a considerable amount of sapping materials, such as gabions, fascines, sap-fagots, sandbags, &c.

The gabion is a cylindrical basket of twigs, about two feet in diameter, and some three feet in length, and without a bottom. It is made by driving into the ground, in a circular form, a number of small pickets about an inch in diameter, and of the length required for the gabion. Twigs are wattled between the pickets like ordinary basket-work, and fastened at the ends by withs or packthread. Gabions are used in forming saps, batteries, blindages, powder-magazines, and in revetting the steep slopes of field-works.

The fascine is a bundle of twigs closely bound up, from nine to twelve inches in diameter, and from ten to fifteen or twenty feet in length. The largest are sometimes called saucissons. In making a fascine, straight twigs about the thickness of a man's finger are laid side by side, and firmly compressed together by a strong rope or chain attached to the extremities of two levers. While held in this position the twigs are firmly bound together by withs or cords. Fascines are used in constructing trenches, batteries, &c., and for filling up wet ditches.

The sap-fagot is a strong fascine about ten inches in diameter and two feet in length, with a picket inserted through the middle. It is used in the double sap in connection with gabions.

Sand-bags are usually made of coarse canvass. When filled with earth they are some six or eight inches in diameter, and from eighteen inches to two feet in length. From their perishable nature, they are used only when other materials cannot be procured, and where it is important to place the troops speedily under cover from the enemy's fire.

Bales of wool, cotton, hay, straw, &c., may be employed in sapping for the same purposes as the above materials, when they can be procured in sufficient quantity. Pork and flour barrels, which are usually in abundance in a camp, are frequently filled with sand and used for forming magazines, blindages, &c., in field-works.

A trench constructed in ordinary soil beyond the range of the enemy's grape, is called a simple sap, or ordinary trench. The earth is thrown up on the side towards the place besieged, so as to form a kind of parapet to cover the men in the trench. The labor is here executed under the supervision of engineer soldiers, by working parties detached from the other arms. Fig. 50 represents a vertical section of a simple sap.

When within range of the enemy's grape, the flying sap is resorted to in order to place the workmen speedily under cover. In this operation, gabions are placed in juxtaposition on the side towards the besieged work, and filled with all possible speed by the workmen. Three rows of fascines are usually placed on the top of the gabions to increase the height. The most difficult part of the flying sap is executed by engineer troops, and the trench is completed by the ordinary working parties. Fig. 51 represents a section of this sap.

The full-sap is employed when the works of the besiegers are within range of musketry, or when the grape fire of the besieged is so deadly that the flying sap can no longer be used. This is a difficult operation, and unless executed with great care and by well-instructed engineer troops, the construction of the trench will be attended with an immense loss of life. The work must be executed under cover of a sap-roller, which is a cylindrical mass of fascines, wool, or cotton, some two feet in diameter. On very smooth ground a ball-proof shelter on wheels might be used as a substitute. The sap-roller being placed along the line of the trench so as to cover the sapper in front, who is armed with a musket-proof headpiece and cuirass, this sapper commences the sap by placing a gabion on the line of the proposed trench and fills it with earth, working on his hands and knees. Having filled the first gabion, he pushes forward the sap-roller and places a second one next the first, stopping the open joint between the two with a stop-fagot. The second gabion being filled in the same manner as the first, others are successively established. When the first sapper has advanced a few feet, he is followed by a second, also in defensive armor, who increases the excavation and embankment; this sapper is then followed in the same way by a third and a fourth, after which the trench will be sufficiently advanced to be turned over to the ordinary workmen. The sap-fagots may be removed when the embankment becomes thick enough to resist grape. Fig. 52 represents a plan and section of a full-sap.

When the direction of the trench is such that the men are exposed on both sides, it will be necessary to throw up an embankment both to the right and left. This operation is called the double sap, and is executed by two parties of sappers, working side by side. In this sap it will be necessary to frequently change the direction of the trench, or to throw up traverses, in order to cover the men at a distance from the sap-roller. Wing-traverses, on the side of the trench which is least exposed, some times serve the same purpose as a double sap.

Mines.—By mining, as a military term, we understand the operations resorted to for the demolition, with powder, of a military structure of any description. The term mine is applied both to the excavation charged with powder for the purpose of producing an explosion, and to the communications which lead to this excavation.

The place in which the charge of powder is lodged is called the chamber, the communication by which this place is reached the gallery, and the excavation made by the explosion is termed the crater.

The form of the crater caused by an explosion in ordinary soils is assumed to be a truncated cone, the diameter, c d, (Fig. 53,) of the lower circle being one-half the diameter, a b, of the upper circle. This form has never been ascertained to be exactly correct, but the theoretical results deduced from a mathematical discussion of this figure have been fully verified in practice. The radius, p b, of the upper circle is termed the crater radius; the line o p, drawn from the centre of the charge perpendicular to the surface where the explosion takes place, is termed the line of least resistance; the line o b, drawn from the centre of the powder to any point in the circumference of the upper circle, is termed the radius of explosion.

When the crater radius is equal to the line of least resistance, the mine is termed common; when this radius is greater than the line of least resistance, the mine is termed overcharged; and when the radius is less, undercharged. A mine of small dimensions, formed by sinking a shaft in the ground, is termed a fougasse. The term camouflet is applied to a mine used to suffocate the enemy's miner, without producing an explosion. Small mines made in rock or masonry, merely for the purpose of excavation, without any considerable external explosion, are called blasts.

From experiments made on common mines, whose line of least resistance did not exceed fifteen feet, it has been ascertained that the tenacity of the earth is completely destroyed around the crater to a distance equal to the crater radius, and that empty galleries would be broken in at once and a half that distance. It has also been proved by experiment, that the crater radius in overcharged mines may be increased to six times the line of least resistance, but not much beyond this; that within this limit the diameter of the crater increases nearly in the ratio of the square roots of the charge; and that empty galleries may be destroyed by overcharged mines at the distance of four times the line of least resistance.

By means of the deductions of physico-mathematical theory, and the results of experiments, rules have been determined by which the miner can calculate, with much accuracy, the charge necessary to produce a required result in any given soil.

In the earlier stages of the history of this art, mines were only used to open breaches and demolish masses of masonry; but in later times they have been employed as important elements in the attack and defence of places.

An isolated wall, only two or three feet thick, may readily be demolished by exploding one or two casks of powder placed in contact with its base. If the wall be five or six feet thick, the charges should be placed under the foundation. For walls of still greater thickness it will be best to open a gallery to the centre of the wall, a foot or two above its base, and place the powder in chambers thus excavated. Revetment walls may be overturned by placing the charges at the back of the wall, about one-third or one-quarter of the way up from the base. If placed too near the base, a breach will be made in the wall without overturning it.

To demolish a bridge of masonry the powder should be lodged in chambers excavated in the centre of the piers. When there is not time for excavating these chambers in the piers, a trench may be cut over the key of the arch, in which the powder is placed and exploded; or, the casks of powder may be suspended immediately under the arch, with the same results. Where a saving of powder is of consequence, small chambers may be excavated in the haunches of the arch, and the mine carefully tamped before firing it.

Bridges of wood may be destroyed by suspending casks of powder under the principal timbers, or attaching them to the supports.

Palisading, gates, doors, &c., may be destroyed in the same way, by suspending casks or bags of powder against their sides; or still more effectually, by burying the charges just beneath their base.

To demolish a tower, magazine, or house, of masonry, place charges of powder under the piers and principal walls of the building. In wooden structures the powder should be placed under, or attached to the principal supports. Where time is wanting to effect these arrangements, a building may be blown down by placing a large mass of powder in the interior. The powder may be economized, in this case, by putting it in a strong case, which should be connected with the walls of the building on all sides by wooden props.

Special treatises on military mining contain full instructions for regulating the size and position of the charge for the various cases that may be met with in the practical operations of field-engineering.

As applied to the attack and defence of a fortified place, mines are divided into two general classes—offensive and defensive mines. The former are employed by the besiegers to overthrow the scarps and counterscarps of the place, to demolish barriers, palisades, walls, and other temporary means of defence, and to destroy the mines of the besieged. The latter are employed by the opposite party to blow up the besiegers' works of attack, and to defend the passage of ditches against an assault. Small mines called fougasses may be employed for the last named object. The shell-fougasse is composed of a wooden box filled with one or more tiers of shells, and buried just below the surface of the earth. Sometimes a quantity of powder is placed under the shells, so as to project them into the air previous to their explosion. The stone fougasse is formed by making a funnel-shaped excavation, some five or six feet deep, and placing at the bottom a charge of powder enclosed in a box, and covered with a strong wooden shield; several cubic yards of pebbles, broken stone, or brickbats, are placed against the shield, and earth well rammed round, to prevent the explosion from taking place in the wrong direction. These mines are fired by means of powder hose, or by wires connected with a galvanic battery.

The defensive mines employed to blow up the besiegers' works, are generally common mines with the lines of least resistance seldom greater than fifteen feet. All the main galleries and principal branches of mines for a permanent fortification are constructed at the same time with the other portions of the work, leaving only the secondary branches, chambers, &c., to be made during the siege. For the general arrangement of these galleries, and the precautions necessary for their protection from the operations of the besiegers, reference must be made to treatises specially devoted to the discussion of this subject.

Mines can seldom be employed with advantage in works of slight relief, and liable to an assault. But if judiciously arranged in the plan of their construction, and well managed during the operations of the siege, they contribute very materially to the length of the defence.

Attack and defence.—This subject admits of two natural divisions: 1st, of intrenchments, and 2d, of permanent works.

I. Intrenchments maybe attacked either by surprise, or by open force. In either case the operations should be based on exact information of the strength of the works and the number and character of the garrison—information that can be obtained from spies, deserters, and prisoners, and confirmed by examinations or reconnaissances made by officers of engineers. By these means a pretty accurate knowledge may be obtained of the natural features of the ground exterior to the works; their weak and strong points; and their interior arrangements for defence.

In an attack by surprise, the troops should consist of a storming party and a reserve of picked men. The attacking column is preceded by a company of sappers armed with axes, shovels, picks, crowbars, &c.; bags of powder are also used for blowing down gates, palisades, &c. All the operations must be carried on with the utmost dispatch. The time most favorable for a surprise is an hour or two before day, as at this moment the sentinels are generally less vigilant, and the garrison in a profound sleep; moreover, the subsequent operations, after the first surprise, will be facilitated by the approach of day. Under certain circumstances, it may be advisable to make false attacks at the same time with the true one, in order to distract the attention of the garrison from the true point of danger. But false attacks have, in general, the objection of dividing the forces of the assailants as well as of the assailed. In all attacks by surprise, secrecy is the soul of the enterprise.

In an open assault, if artillery be employed, the troops should be drawn up in a sheltered position, until the fire of the works is silenced, and breaches effected in the parapet. But if the bayonet alone be resorted to, the troops are immediately brought forward at the beginning of the assault. The attack is begun by a storming party of picked men: they are preceded, as before, by a body of sappers, provided with necessary means for removing obstacles, and followed by a second detachment of engineers, who will widen the passages, and render them more accessible to the main body of troops who now advance to the assistance of the storming party. If the assailants should be arrested at the counterscarp by obstacles which must be removed before any farther progress can be made, the infantry troops of the detachment display and open a fire upon the assailed, in order to divert their fire from the sappers. A few pieces of light artillery, on the flanks of the column, may sometimes be employed for this purpose with great advantage.

The storming party should always be provided with scaling-ladders, planks, fascines, &c., for crossing the ditch, and mounting the scarp. If the counterscarp be revetted with masonry, the troops must either descend by ladders, or fill up the ditch with fascines, bales of straw, bundles of wool, &c.: if not revetted, a passage for the troops into the ditch will soon be formed by the shovels of the sappers. When the ditch is gained, shelter is sought in a dead angle till the means are prepared for mounting the scarp, and storming the work. If the scarp be of earth only, the sappers will soon prepare a passage for the escalade; but if revetted with masonry, the walls must be breached with hollow shot, or scaled by means of ladders.

In the defence, the strictest vigilance should be at all times exerted to guard against a surprise: sentinels are posted on all the most commanding points of the work; all the avenues of approach are most thoroughly guarded; and patroles are constantly scouring the ground in all directions. At night all these precautions are redoubled. Light and fire-balls are thrown out in front of the work to light up the ground, and discover the movements and approach of the enemy. Each man should have his particular post assigned to him, and be thoroughly instructed in the duties he will have to perform. All auxiliary arrangements, such as palisades, abattis, &c., should be defended with the utmost obstinacy; the longer the enemy is held in check by these obstacles, the longer will he be exposed to the grape and musketry of the main work. When he assaults the parapet, he will be opposed by the bayonet in front and a well-aimed fire in flank. While in the ditch, or as he mounts the scarp, hollow projectiles, incendiary preparations, stones, logs, &c., will be rolled down upon his head. But when the assaulting column has gained the top of the scarp, the bayonet forms the most effective means of resistance.

The measures resorted to in the attack and defence of the larger class of field-works, will necessarily partake much of the nature of the operations employed in the attack and defence of permanent fortifications.

II. The attack and defence of a fortress may be carried on either by a regular siege, or by irregular operations and an assault. The latter plan has sometimes been adopted when the works of the place were weak and improperly defended; where the time and means were wanting for conducting a regular siege; or where the assailants were ignorant of the means proper to be resorted to for the reduction of the fortress. Such operations, however, are usually attended by an immense sacrifice of human life, and the general who neglects to employ all the resources of the engineer's art in carrying on a siege, is justly chargeable with the lives of his men. In the siege of Cambrai, Louis XIV., on the solicitation of Du Metz, but contrary to the advice of Vauban, ordered the demi-lune to be taken by assault, instead of waiting for the result of a regular siege. The assault was made, but it was unsuccessful, and the French sustained great losses. The king now directed Vauban to take the demi-lune by regular approaches, which was done in a very short time, and with a loss of only five men! Again, at the siege of Ypres, the generals advised an assault before the breaches were ready. "You will gain a day by the assault," said Vauban, "but you will lose a thousand men." The king directed the regular works to be continued, and the next day the place was taken with but little loss to the besiegers.

But a work may be of such a character as to render it unnecessary to resort to all the works of attack which would be required for the reduction of a regular bastioned fort, on a horizontal site. For example: the nature of the ground may be such as to enable the troops to approach to the foot of the glacis, without erecting any works whatever; of course, all the works up to the third parallel may in this case be dispensed with without any violation of the rules of a siege. Again, the point of attack may be such that the other parts of the place will not flank the works of approach; here a single line of boyaux and short parallels may be all-sufficient.

But for the purpose of discussion, we will here suppose the place besieged to be a regular bastioned work on a horizontal site, (Fig. 54.)

The operations of the siege may be divided into three distinct periods.

1st. The preliminary operations of the attack and defence previous to the opening of the trenches.

2d. The operations of the two parties from the opening of the trenches to the establishment of the third parallel.

3d. From the completion of the third parallel to the reduction of the place.

First period. The object of the investment of the place is to cut off all communication between the work and the exterior, thus preventing it from receiving succors, provisions, and military munitions, and also to facilitate a close reconnoissance of the place by the engineers, who should always accompany the investing corps, and pursue their labors under its protection. This corps should be composed chiefly of light troops—cavalry, light infantry, horse artillery, "brigades of engineers and mounted sappers,"—who march in advance of the besieging army, and, by a sudden movement, surround the work, seize upon all the avenues of approach, and carry off every thing without the work that can be of service either to the garrison or to the besiegers. To effect this object, the enterprise must be conducted with secrecy and dispatch.

The investing corps is now distributed around the work in the most favorable positions for cutting off all access to it, and also to prevent any communication with the exterior by detachments from the garrison, and even single individuals are sent out to give intelligence to a succoring army or to reconnoitre the operations of the besieging corps. These posts and sentinels, called the daily cordon, are placed some mile or mile and a half from the work, and beyond the reach of the guns. But in the night-time these posts are insufficient to accomplish their object, and consequently as soon as it is dark the troops move up as close to the work as possible without being exposed to the fire of musketry. This arrangement constitutes the nightly cordon.

By the time the main army arrives the reconnoissance will be sufficiently complete to enable the chief engineer to lay before the general the outline of his plan of attack, so as to establish the position of his depots and camp. These will be placed some two miles from the work, according to the nature of the ground. As they occupy a considerable extent of ground around the work, it will generally be necessary to form intrenchments strong enough to prevent succors of troops, provisions, &c., from being thrown into the place, and also to restrain the excursions of the garrison. The works thrown up between the camp and besieged place are termed the line of countervallation, and those on the exterior side of the camp form the line of circumvallation. These lines are generally about six hundred yards apart. It is not unusual in modern warfare to dispense with lines of circumvallation, (except a few detached works for covering the parks of the engineers and artillery,) and to hold the succoring army in check by means of an opposing force, called the army of observation.

The measures of defence resorted to by the garrison will, of course, be subordinate, in some degree, to those of attack. As soon as any danger of an investment is apprehended, the commanding general should collect into the place all the necessary provisions, forage, military munitions, &c., to be found in the surrounding country; all useless persons should be expelled from the garrison; a supply of timber for the works of the engineers and artillery, fascines, gabions, palisades, &c., prepared; all ground within cannon range around the work levelled; hedges and trees cut down; holes filled up; temporary buildings demolished or burnt; and all obstacles capable of covering an enemy and interrupting the fire of the work, removed.

During this period the engineer troops and working parties detached from the other arms will be most actively employed. As soon as the investing corps makes its appearance, bodies of light troops are thrown out to cut off reconnoitring parties, and, if possible, to draw the enemy into ambush. To facilitate these exterior operations, and to prevent a surprise, several guns of long range are placed on the salients of the bastions and demi-lunes, and others, loaded with grape, in the embrasures of the flanks, so as to sweep the ditches. About one-third of the garrison may be employed in exterior operations, and the other two-thirds in arranging the means of defence in the interior.

Second period.—As soon as the engineers have completed their reconnaissances and determined on the front of attack, and all the other preparations are made, the general will direct the opening of the trenches. The ground being previously marked out, battalions of light troops, termed guards of the trenches, as soon as it is dark, are placed about thirty yards in front of the first parallel, (A. Fig. 54,) with smaller sections, and sentinels about the same distance further in advance. These guards lie down, or otherwise conceal themselves from the fire of the work. The engineer troops and detachments of workmen being first marched to the depots and supplied with all the necessary tools for carrying on the work, now commence their labors under the protection of these guards. By daybreak the construction of the first parallel, and the trenches connecting it with the depots, will be sufficiently advanced to cover the men from the fire of the place; the guards will therefore be withdrawn, and the workmen continue their labors during the day to give the trenches the proper size and form.

The parallels are the long lines of trench which envelop the besieged work, and serve both as covered ways for the circulation of the besiegers, and as means of defence against sorties from the garrison; they are therefore arranged with banquettes for musketry fire. The boyaux are trenches run in a zigzag direction along the capitals of the front of attack, and are intended exclusively for the circulation of the troops; they have no banquettes. The first parallel is about six hundred yards from the place, and consequently beyond the reach of grape. It is constructed by the simple sap. After the first night, the guards, instead of advancing in front of the work, are placed in the trenches.

The second parallel (B) is made some three hundred or three hundred and fifty yards from the place, and being much exposed to grape, the flying-sap is employed in its construction. Batteries (H) are established between the first and second parallels to silence the fire of the demi-lunes of the collateral bastions, and others (I) near the second parallel, to enfilade the faces of the front of attack. These are armed in part with mortars and in part with heavy siege-pieces.

The works are now gradually pushed forward to the third parallel, (C), which is constructed about sixty yards from the salients of the place. As the operations of the besiegers are here greatly exposed to musketry fire, the trenches are constructed by the full-sap. The third parallel, having to contain the guards of the trenches, and being of less development than the two preceding, is made much wider. The second parallel now contains the reserve, and the first parallel becomes the depot of materials. Demi-parallels (G) are frequently established between the second and third, to be occupied by detachments of guards.

The operations of defence during this period are so directed as to harass the workmen in the trenches and retard the advance of the works of attack. Garrison pieces of long range and large howitzers are brought forward on the salients of the bastions and demi-lunes of attack, so as to fire in ricochet along the capitals on which the boyaux must be pushed: light and fire-balls are thrown out as soon as it becomes dark, to light up the ground occupied by the besiegers, thus exposing them to the fire of the work and to the attacks of the sortie parties. These parties are composed of light troops who charge the guards and compel the workmen to abandon their sapping tools and stand upon the defence. They are most effective when the besiegers commence the second parallel, as the guards in the first parallel are not so immediately at hand to protect the workmen. When the sortie detachment has driven these workmen from the trenches, instead of pursuing them into the first parallel, it will display itself in battle order to cover the engineer troops, (who should always accompany the detachment in this enterprise,) while they fill up the trenches and destroy the implements of the besiegers. When the guards of the trenches appear in force, the detachment will retire in such a way, if possible, as to draw the enemy within range of the grape and musketry of the collateral works. These sorties, if successful, may be frequently repeated, for they tend very much to prolong the siege. The best time for making them is an hour or two before day, when the workmen and guards are fatigued with the labors of the night. While the besiegers are establishing their enfilading batteries, a strong fire of solid shot and shells will be concentrated on the points selected for their construction. The garrison will also labor during this period to put the work into a complete state of defence: constructing all necessary palisadings, traverses, blindages, barriers; and strengthening, if necessary, the covering of the magazines.

Third period.—After the completion of the third parallel, the crowning of the covered way may be effected by storm, by regular approaches, or (if the work is secured by defensive mines) by a subterranean warfare.

In the first case stone mortar-batteries are established in front of the third parallel, which, on a given signal, will open their fire in concert with all the enfilading and mortar batteries. When this fire has produced its effect in clearing the outworks, picked troops will sally forth and carry the covered way with the bayonet, sheltering themselves behind the traverses until the sappers throw up a trench some four or five yards from the crest of the glacis, high enough to protect the troops from the fire of the besieged. It may afterwards be connected with the third parallel by boyaux.

When the covered way is to be crowned by regular approaches, a double sap is pushed forward from the third parallel to within thirty yards of the salient of the covered way; the trench is then extended some fifteen or twenty yards to the right or left, and the earth thrown up high enough to enable the besiegers to obtain a plunging fire into the covered way, and thus prevent the enemy from occupying it. This mound of earth is termed a trench cavalier, (O). Boyaux are now pushed forward to the crowning of the covered way and the establishing of breach batteries, (J). Descents are then constructed into the ditches, and as soon as these batteries have made a breach into the walls of the bastions and outworks, the boyaux are pushed across the ditches and lodgments effected in the breaches. The demi-lune is first carried; next the demi-lune redoubt and bastion; and lastly, the interior retrenchments and citadel. In some cases the breaches are carried by assault, but the same objection is applicable here as in the storming of the covered way; time is gained, but at an immense expense of human life.

If the place is defended by mines it will be necessary for the besiegers to counteract the effects of these works by resorting to the slow and tedious operations of a subterranean warfare. In this case a fourth trench is formed in front of the third parallel; shafts are sunk in this, about six yards apart, for establishing overcharged mines; as soon as the galleries of the besieged are destroyed by the explosion of these mines, the covered way is attacked by storm; other mines are established on the terre-plain of the covered way to destroy the entrance to the galleries, and thus deprive the besieged of the use of their entire system of mines.

The measures of defence during this period must embrace every thing calculated to retard the works of the besiegers. This may be most effectually accomplished by maintaining a constant fire of grape and musketry on the heads of the sap, and throwing grenades, shells, &c., into the trenches, to harass and destroy the workmen. As the musketry fire of the besiegers now becomes very destructive to the artillerists at the guns, strong musket-proof blinds are arranged to mask the mouths of the embrasures when the guns are not in battery, and also sloping blindages to cover the men when serving at the pieces. The possession of the outworks should be disputed inch by inch, and when the besiegers have reached the ditch of the body of the place, sorties, and every species of projectile, should be employed to drive off the sappers, and to retard the construction of their works. In fine, all the resources of the engineer's art should be put in requisition for the defence of the breach, and the final assault should be vigorously resisted by the bayonet, and by a well-sustained fire from all the collateral works.

With respect to the relative strength of the opposing forces it may be well to remark, that if the fortress is properly constructed the garrison will be able to resist a besieging army six times as numerous as itself. Such is the estimate of the best engineers.[48]

[Footnote 48: A good knowledge of the several subjects discussed in this chapter may be derived from the writings of Vauban, Cormontaigne, and Noizet de St. Paul, on the attack and defence of places and field fortification; the several manuels used in the French service on sapping, mining, and pontoniering; Col. Pasley's experiments on the operations of a siege, sapping, mining, &c.; Douglas's work on military bridges; Macauley's work on field fortification; and Professor Mahan's Treatise on Field Fortification. This last is undoubtedly the very best work that has ever been written on field fortification, and every officer going into the field should supply himself with a copy.

The following are recommended as books of reference on subjects discussed in the three preceding chapters.

Memorial pour la fortification permanente et passagere. Cormontaigne.

Defense des places. Cormontaigne.

Attaque des places. Cormontaigne.

Attaque des places. Vauban.

Traite des mines. Vauban.

Memorial pour la castrametation et la fortification passagere. Lafitte-Clave.

Exercice sur les fortifications. Davigneau.

Memorial de l'officier du genie. A periodical of rare merit, containing most valuable military and scientific matter. It is conducted by officers of the French corps of engineers. It has already reached its fourteenth number, each number forming a volume.

Traite complet de fortification. Noizet de St. Paul.

Traite d'art militaire et de la fortification. Gay de Vernon.

Art de la guerre. Rogniat.

Essai general de fortification, &c. Bousmard.

Aide-memoire portatif a l'usage des officiers du genie. Laisne. A very valuable and useful book.

Aide-memoire de l'ingenieur militaire. Grivet.

Cours d'art militaire. Laurillard Fallot.

Cours de fortification, &c. Lavart.

Le livre de la guerre. Perrot.

Journaux des sieges dans la peninsule. Belmas.

Journal of Sieges in Spain. John Jones.

Both of the above are works of great value.

Cours d'art militaire et de fortification militaire. Francois.

Architettura militare. Marchi.

Essai sur la fortification. Baltard.

La fortification. Bar-le-Duc.

Elemens de fortification. Bellaire.

La science des ingenieurs. Belidor.

L'art universel des fortifications. Bitainvieu.

Nouvelle maniere de fortifier les places. Blondel.

Les sept sieges de Lille. Brun Lavaine.

Defense des places fortes. Carnot.

Memoire sur la fortification. Carnot.

Defense de Saragosse. Cavallero.

Memoires sur la fortification. Choumara.

Nouvelle fortification. Coehorn.

Theorie de la fortification. Cugnot.

Des fortifications, &c. &c. Darcon.

Relation de la defense de Dantzik. D'Artois.

Les fortifications. Deville.

Peribologie. Dilich.

De la fortification permanente. Dufour. A work of merit.

Essai sur la defense des etats par les fortifications. Duviviet.

_Attaque et defense des places du camp de St. Omer.

L'ecole de la fortification. Fallois.

Introduction a la fortification. De Fer.

Precis de la defense de Valenciennes. Ferrand.

Traite theorique, &c. Foissac-Latour.

Examen detaille, &c. Foissac-Latour.

_Les ouvrages militaires de Fosse.

Instruction sur la fortification, &c. Gaillard.

Memoires pour l'attaque et defense d'une place. Goulon.

Siege of Peschiera. Henin.

_Journal du siege de Philisbourg.

Precis du siege de Dantzick. Kirgener.

Deuxieme defense de Badajos. Lamare.

Fortification, et l'attaque et defense des places. Lebloud.

_OEuvres de Lefebvre.

L'architecture des forteresses. Mandar.

Traite sur l'art des sieges. Mazeroy.

La surete des etats par le moyen des forteresses. Maigret.

Defense d'Ancone. Mangourit.

Fortification. Marolois.

Siege de Turin. Mengin.

Recherches sur l'art defensif, &c. Michaloz.

La fortification de campagne, &c. Miller.

L'art defensif, &c. Montalembert.

_Journaux des sieges de Flandre.

Relations des sieges en Europe, &c, Musset-Fathay. A very valuable and interesting work.

_Relation du siege de Metz.

_Relation du siege d'Anvers.

_Les sieges de Jaffa et de St. Jean d'Acre.

Les sieges de Saragosse et de Tortose. Rogniat.

Siege de Dantzick. Sainte-Susanne.

Memoire sur la fortification permanente.—Sea.

Le siege de Constantine.

Elemens de fortification. Trincano.

Des places fortes. Valaze.

Essay on Military Bridges.Douglas. A valuable work.

Guide du pontonier. Drieu.

Memoire sur la guerre souterraine. Contele.

Traite des mines. Etienne.

Traite de l'art du mineur. Geuss.

Traite de fortification souterraine. Gillot.

Traite pratique et theorique des mines. Lebrun.

Nouveau traite des mines, &c. Prudhomme.

Manuel du sapeur. Used in the French service.

Manuel du mineur. " ""

_Manuel du pontonier. " ""

Essay on Field Fortifications. Pleydell.

Elements of Field Fortifications. Lochee.

Relation du siege de Grave et Mayence.

Sieges de Genes. Thiebault.

Traite de fortification souterraine. Mouze.

Militairische Mittheilungen. Xilander.

Die Befestigung der Statten. Hauser.

Abhandlung ueber die Befestigungskunst,&c. Hauser

Versuch ueber die Verschanzungskunst. Muller.

Course of Elementary Fortification. Pasley. This is a work of much detail—useful, no doubt, to an uneducated engineer soldier, but to an officer at all acquainted with his profession, it must seem ridiculously minute.

To the above list might be added a long list of books on that branch of the engineer's art called constructions; but as this part of the profession is, in some degree, common both to the civil and military engineer, it is not deemed necessary to include works of this character in a list of books strictly military.]



CHAPTER XV.

MILITARY EDUCATION APPOINTMENT AND PROMOTION.

With the Romans, six years' instruction was required to make a soldier; and so great importance did these ancient conquerors of the world attach to military education and discipline, that the very name of their army was derived from the verb to practise.

Modern nations, learning from experience that military success depends more upon skill and discipline than upon numbers, have generally adopted the same rule as the Romans; and nearly all of the European powers have established military schools for the education of their officers and the instruction of their soldiers.

France, which has long taken the lead in military science, has six military schools for the instruction of officers, containing in all more than one thousand pupils, and numerous division and regimental schools for the sub-officers and soldiers.

Prussia maintains some twelve general schools for military education, which contain about three thousand pupils, and also numerous division, brigade, garrison, and company schools for practical instruction.

Austria has some fifty military schools, which contain in all about four thousand pupils.

Russia has thirty-five engineer and artillery technical schools, with about two thousand pupils; twenty-five military schools for the noblesse, containing eight thousand seven hundred pupils; corps d'armee schools, with several thousand pupils; regimental schools, with eleven thousand pupils; and brigade-schools, with upwards of one hundred and fifty-six thousand scholars;—making in all about two hundred thousand pupils in her military schools!

England has five military schools of instruction for officers, number of pupils not known; a military orphan school, with about twelve thousand pupils; and numerous depot and regimental schools of practice.

The smaller European powers—Belgium, Sardinia, Naples, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, Wurtemberg, Bavaria, Baden, have each several military schools, with a large number of pupils.

It is seen from these statistics, that the European powers are not so negligent in educating their officers, and in instructing and disciplining their soldiers, as some in this country would have us believe.

Washington, Hamilton, Knox, Pickering, and others, learning, by their own experience in the war of the American revolution, the great necessity of military education, urged upon our government, as early as 1783, the importance of establishing a military academy in this country, but the subject continued to be postponed from year to year till 1802. In 1794, the subaltern grade of cadet was created by an act of Congress, the officers of this grade being attached to their regiments, and "furnished at the public expense with the necessary books, instruments, and apparatus" for their instruction. But this plan of educating young officers at their posts was found impracticable, and in his last annual message, Dec. 7th, 1796, Washington urged again, in strong language, the establishment of a military academy, where a regular course of military instruction could be given. "Whatever argument," said he, "may be drawn from particular examples, superficially viewed, a thorough examination of the subject will evince that the art of war is both comprehensive and complicated; that it demands much previous study; and that the possession of it in its most improved and perfect state is always of great moment to the security of a nation."

The subject was however postponed from time to time, till March, 1802, when a bill was passed establishing the Military Academy. It was at first on a small scale, and its course of instruction meager and deficient. It gradually became enlarged, but lingered along, with no great improvement, till 1817, when Capt. Patridge was dismissed from the superintendency, and Col. Thayer put in charge. From this period we date the commencement of the success and reputation which the Military Academy has since enjoyed.

This institution, as now organized, consists of one cadet from each congressional district, and a few at large, making an average of two hundred and thirty-seven. The course of instruction is four years, after which time the cadet is sent to his regiment or corps, with higher rank if there are vacancies, but if there are no vacancies, he goes as a cadet, with the brevet rank of the next higher grade.

The examination for admission to the institution is a very limited one, being confined to the elementary branches of an English education.

The annual course at the academy is divided into two distinct periods, the first extending from June till September, and the second from September to the following June. During the first period, the cadets leave their barracks and encamp in tents, and are made subject to the police and discipline of an army in time of war. In addition to the thorough and severe course of practical exercises and drills in the different arms during these three summer months of each year, they are made to perform the same tours of guard-duty, night and day, as is required of the common soldier in time of actual war. This continues till the first of September of each year, when the cadets return to their barracks, and for the remaining nine months devote themselves to the prescribed course of scientific and military studies, intermixed with military exercises and practical operations in the laboratory and on the field.

To test the progress of the cadets in their studies, there are held semi-annual public examinations. These examinations are strict and severe, and all who fail to come up to the fixed standard are obliged to withdraw from the institution, to allow some one else from the same district to make the trial.

During their course of studies the cadets, as warrant-officers of the army, draw pay barely sufficient to defray their necessary expenses. The allowance to each is twenty-six dollars per month, but none of this is paid to the cadet, but is applied to the purchase of books, fuel, lights, clothing, board, &c.

This institution furnishes each year to the army about forty subaltern officers, thoroughly instructed in all the theoretical and practical duties of their profession. After completing this course, the cadet is usually promoted from the grade of warrant-officer to that of a commissioned officer, and is immediately put on duty with his regiment or corps.

This system of appointment to the army has produced the most satisfactory results, and has received the commendation of our best military men, and the approbation of all our presidents and most able statesmen. Nevertheless, it has occasionally met with strong opposition; this opposition springing in part from a want of proper information respecting the character and working of the system, and in part from the combined efforts of those who from negligence or incapacity have failed to pass their examinations for promotion, and of those who, from a conscious want of qualifications or merit, feel assured that they cannot obtain commissions in the army so long as this system of merit, as fixed by examination, shall exist. Hence the effort to destroy the Military Academy and to throw the army entirely open to political appointment.

Several legislative bodies, acting under these combined influences, have passed resolutions, giving various objections to the Military Academy, and recommending that it be abolished. The objections made by the legislatures of Tennessee, Ohio, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Maine, are mostly founded on false information, and may be readily answered by reference to the official records of the War-office. But it is not the present object to enter into a general discussion of the charges against that institution, except so far as they are connected with the importance of military education, and the rules of military appointment and promotion.

It has been alleged by many of the opponents of the West Point Academy, that military instruction is of little or no advantage to a general;—that in the wars of Napoleon, and in the American Revolution, and the American war of 1812, armies were generally led to victory by men without a military education, and unacquainted with military science;—and that in the event of another war in this country, we must seek our generals in the ranks of civil life, rather than among the graduates of our Military Academy.

The objection here made to military education will hold with equal force against education in any other profession. We sometimes find men who have become eminent in the pulpit and at the bar, or in medicine and the sciences, without ever having enjoyed the advantages of an education in academic or collegiate halls, and perhaps even without that preliminary instruction usually deemed necessary for professional pursuits. Shall we therefore abolish all our colleges, theological seminaries, schools of law and medicine, our academies and primary schools, and seek for our professional men among the uneducated and the ignorant? If professional ignorance be a recommendation in our generals, why not also in our lawyers and our surgeons? If we deem professional instruction requisite for the care of our individual property and health, shall we require less for guarding the honor and safety of our country, the reputation of our arms, and the lives of thousands of our citizens?

But in reality, were not these men to whom we have alluded eminent in their several professions in spite of, rather than by means of their want of a professional education? And have not such men, feeling the disadvantages under which they were forced to labor, been almost without exception the advocates of education in others?

But is it true that most of the generals of distinction in the more recent wars were men destitute of military education,—men who rose from the ranks to the pinnacle of military glory, through the combined influence of ignorance of military science and contempt for military instruction? Let us glance at the lives of the most distinguished of the generals of the French Revolution, for these are the men to whom reference is continually made to prove that the Military Academy is an unnecessary and useless institution, the best generals being invariably found in the ranks of an army, and not in the ranks of military schools. Facts may serve to convince, where reasoning is of no avail.

Napoleon himself was a pupil of the military schools of Brienne and Paris, and had all the advantages of the best military and scientific instruction given in France.

Dessaix was a pupil of the military school of Effiat, with all the advantages which wealth and nobility could procure. Davoust was a pupil of the military school of Auxerre, and a fellow-pupil with Napoleon in the military school of Paris. Kleber was educated at the military school of Bavaria. Eugene Beauharnais was a pupil of St. Germain-en-Loye, and had for his military instructor the great captain of the age. His whole life was devoted to the military art. Berthier and Marmont were both sons of officers, and, being early intended for the army, they received military educations. Lecourbe had also the advantages of a military education before entering the army. Pichegru and Duroc were pupils of the military school of Brienne. Drouet was a pupil of the artillery school. Foy was first educated in the college of Soissons, and afterwards in the military schools of La Fere and Chalons. Carnot, called the "Organizer of French victory," received a good early education, and was also a pupil of the engineer school of Mezieres.

Several of the distinguished French generals at first received good scientific and literary educations in the colleges of France, and then acquired their military instruction in the subordinate grades of the army; and by this means, before their promotion to responsible offices, acquired a thorough practical instruction, founded on a basis of a thorough preliminary education. Such was Suchet, a pupil of the college of Lisle-Barbe; Lannes, a pupil of the college of Lectoure; and Mortier, who was most carefully educated at Cambrai; Lefebvre and Murat were both educated for the church, though the latter profited but little by his instruction; Moreau and Joubert were educated for the bar; Massena was not a college graduate, but he received a good preliminary education, and for several years before he entered the army as an officer, he had enjoyed all the advantages afforded by leisure and affluent circumstances; Ney, though poor, received a good preliminary education, and entered a notary's office to study a profession. Hoche was destitute of the advantages of early education, but, anxious to supply this deficiency, he early distinguished himself by his efforts to procure books, and by his extraordinary devotion to military studies. By several years devoted in this way to professional studies and the practical duties of a subordinate grade in the army, Hoche acquired a military knowledge which early distinguished him among the generals of the French Revolution. Soult and Gouvion-Saint-Cyr, being of parents in limited circumstances, had not the advantages of extensive education, but close and diligent application, an ardent ambition, and strong and powerful intellect, combined with long years of service in the practical operations of the field, at length enabled these men to overcome all obstacles, and force their way to the higher walks of their professions. But both knew from experience the advantages of military instruction, and the importance of professional education in the army, and they have consequently both been the warmest friends and strongest advocates of the military schools of France.

The Polytechnic School was established too late to furnish officers for any of the earlier wars of Napoleon; but in his last campaigns he began to reap the advantages of an institution which had been under his fostering care, and Bertrand, Dode, Duponthon, Haxo, Rogniat, Fleury, Valaze, Gourgaud, Chamberry, and a host of other distinguished young generals, fully justified the praises which the emperor lavished on his "poulet aux oeufs d'or"—the hen that laid him golden eggs!

In our own revolutionary war, Generals Washington, Hamilton, Gates, Schuyler, Knox, Alexander, (Lord Stirling,) the two Clintons, the Lees, and others, were men of fine education, and a part of them of high literary and scientific attainments; Washington, Gates, Charles Lee, the Clintons, and some others, had considerable military experience even before the war: nevertheless, so destitute was the army, generally, of military science, that the government was under the necessity of seeking it in foreigners—in the La Fayettes, the Kosciuskos, the Steubens, the De Kalbs, the Pulaskis, the Duportails—who were immediately promoted to the highest ranks in our army. In fact the officers of our scientific corps were then nearly all foreigners.

But, say the opponents of the Academy, military knowledge and education are not the only requisites for military success; youthful enterprise and efficiency are far more important than a mere acquaintance with military science and the military art: long service in garrison, combined with the indolent habits acquired by officers of a peace-establishment, so deadens the enterprise of the older officers of the army, that it must inevitably result, in case of war, that military energy and efficiency will be derived from the ranks of civil life.

We are not disposed to question the importance of youthful energy in the commander of an army, and we readily admit that while seeking to secure to our service a due degree of military knowledge, we should also be very careful not to destroy its influence by loading it down with the dead weights of effete seniority. But we do question the wisdom of the means proposed for supplying our army with this desired efficiency. Minds stored with vast funds of professional knowledge, and the rich lore of past history; judgments ripened by long study and experience; with passions extinguished, or at least softened by the mellowing influence of age—these may be best suited for judges and statesmen, for here there is time for deliberation, for the slow and mature judgment of years. But for a general in the field, other qualities are also required. Not only is military knowledge requisite for directing the blow, but he must also have the military energy necessary for striking that blow, and the military activity necessary for parrying the attacks of the enemy. A rapid coup d'oeil prompt decision, active movements, are as indispensable as sound judgment; for the general must see, and decide, and act, all in the same instant. Accordingly we find that most great generals of ancient and modern times have gained their laurels while still young.

Philip of Macedon ascended the throne at the age of twenty-two, and soon distinguished himself in his wars with the neighboring states. At the age of forty-five he had conquered all Greece. He died at forty-seven.

Alexander the Great had defeated the celebrated Theban band at the battle of Cheronea, and gained a military reputation at the age of eighteen. He ascended the throne of his father Philip before twenty, and at twenty-five had reached the zenith of his military glory, having already conquered the world. He died before the age of thirty-two.

Julius Caesar commanded the fleet sent to blockade Mitylene, where he greatly distinguished himself before the age of twenty-two. He soon after held the important offices of tribune, quaestor, and edile. He had completed his first war in Spain, and was made consul at Rome before the age of forty. He twice crossed the Rhine, and conquered all Gaul, and had twice passed over to Britain, before the age of forty-five; at fifty-two he had won the field of Pharsalia, and attained the supreme power. He died in the fifty-sixth year of his age, the victor of five hundred battles, and the conqueror of a thousand cities.

Hannibal joined the Carthaginian army in Spain at twenty-two, and was made commander-in-chief at twenty-six. Victorious in Spain and France, he crossed the Alps and won the battle of Cannae before the age of thirty-one.

Scipio Africanus, (the elder,) at the age of sixteen distinguished himself at the battle of Ticinus; at twenty was made edile, and soon after pro-consul in Spain; at twenty-nine he won the great battle of Zama, and closed his military career. Scipio Africanus (the younger) also distinguished himself in early life; at the age of thirty six he had conquered the Carthaginian armies and completed the destruction of Carthage.

Gengis-Khan succeeded to the domain of his father at the age of thirteen, and almost immediately raised an army of thirty thousand men, with which he defeated a numerous force of rebels, who had thought to take advantage of his extreme youth to withdraw from his dominion. He soon acquired a military reputation by numerous conquests, and before the age of forty had made himself emperor of Mogul.

Charlemagne was crowned king at twenty-six, conquered Aquitania at twenty-eight, made himself master of France and the greater part of Germany at twenty-nine, placed on his brows the iron crown of Italy at thirty-two, and conquered Spain at thirty-six.

Gonsalvo de Cordova, the "great captain," entered the army at fifteen, and before the age of seventeen had acquired a brilliant military reputation, and was knighted by the king himself on the field of battle; at forty-one he was promoted over the heads of older veterans and made commander-in-chief of the army in Italy.

Henry IV. of France was placed at the head of the Huguenot army at the age of sixteen, at nineteen he became king of Navarre; at forty he had overthrown all his enemies, placed himself on the throne of France, and become the founder of a new dynasty.

Montecuculi, at the age of thirty-one, with two thousand horse, attacked ten thousand Swedes and captured all their baggage and artillery; at thirty-two he gained the victory of Triebel, at forty-nine defeated the Swedes and saved Denmark, and at fifty-three defeated the Turks at the great battle of St. Gothard. In his campaigns against the French at a later age, he made it his chief merit, "not that he conquered, but that he was not conquered."

Saxe entered the army at the early age of twelve, and soon obtained the command of a regiment of horse; at twenty-four he became marechal-de-camp, at forty-four marshal of France, and at forty-nine gained the celebrated victory of Fontenoy. He died at the age of fifty-four.

Vauban entered the army of Conde as a cadet at the age of seventeen, at twenty was made a lieutenant, at twenty-four he commanded two companies, at forty-one was a brigadier, at forty-three a marechal-de-camp, and at forty-five commissaire-general of all the fortifications of France. At the age of twenty-five he had himself conducted several sieges, and had assisted at many others.

Turenne entered the army before the age of fourteen; he served one year as a volunteer, four years as a captain, four years as a colonel, three years as a major-general, five years as a lieutenant-general, and became a marshal of France at thirty-two. He had won all his military reputation by the age of forty.

Prince Maurice commanded an army at the age of sixteen, and acquired his military reputation in very early life. He died at fifty-eight.

The great Conde immortalized his name at the battle of Rocroi, in which, at the age of twenty-two, he defeated the Spaniards. He had won all his great military fame before the age of twenty-five.

Prince Eugene of Savoy was a colonel at twenty-one, a lieutenant-field-marshal at twenty-four, and soon after, a general-field-marshal. He gained the battle of Zenta at thirty-four, and of Blenheim at forty-one. At the opening of the war of 1733, he again appeared at the head of the army at the advanced age of sixty-nine, but having lost the vigor and fire of youth, he effected nothing of importance.

Peter the Great of Russia was proclaimed czar at ten years of age; at twenty he organized a large army and built several ships; at twenty-four he fought the Turks and captured Asoph; at twenty-eight he made war with Sweden; at thirty he entered Moscow in triumph after the victory of Embach, and the capture of Noteburg and Marienburg; at thirty-one he began the city of St. Petersburg; at thirty-nine he was defeated by the Turks and forced to ransom himself and army. His latter years were mostly devoted to civil and maritime affairs. He died at the age of fifty-five.

Charles the XII. of Sweden ascended the throne at the age of fifteen, completed his first successful campaign against Denmark at eighteen, overthrew eighty thousand Russians at Narva before nineteen, conquered Poland and Saxony at twenty-four, and died at thirty-six.

Frederick the Great of Prussia ascended the throne at twenty-eight, and almost immediately entered on that career of military glory which has immortalized his name. He established his reputation in the first Silesian war, which he terminated at the age of thirty. The second Silesian war was terminated at thirty-three; and at forty-three, with a population of five millions, he successfully opposed a league of more than one hundred millions of people.

Prince Henry of Prussia served his first campaign as colonel of a regiment at sixteen; at the age of thirty-one he decided the victory of Prague, and the same year was promoted to the command of a separate army. The military reputation he acquired in the Seven Years' War was second only to that of Frederick.

Cortes had effected the conquest of Mexico, and completed his military career, at the age of thirty-six.

Sandoval, the most eminent of his great captains, died at the age of thirty-one. He had earned his great renown, and closed his military achievements, before the age of twenty-five.

Pizarro completed the conquest of Peru at thirty-five, and died about forty.

Lord Clive began his military career at twenty-two, and had reached the zenith of his military fame at thirty-five; he was raised to the peerage at thirty-six, and died at fifty.

Hastings began his military service at about twenty-five, and became governor of Bengal at forty.

Napoleon was made a lieutenant at seventeen, a captain at twenty, chef-de-bataillon at twenty-four, general of brigade at twenty-five, and commander-in-chief of the army of Italy at twenty-six. All his most distinguished generals were, like him, young men, and they seconded him in his several campaigns with all the energy and activity of youthful valor and enthusiasm.

Dessaix entered the army at fifteen; at the opening of the war he quickly passed through the lower grades, and became a general of brigade before the age of twenty-five, and a general of division at twenty-six; he died before the age of thirty-two, with a reputation second only to that of Napoleon.

Kleber did not enter the army till later in life, but he quickly passed through the subordinate grades, and was made a general of brigade at thirty-eight, a general of division at forty, and general-in-chief of an army at forty-one: he died at forty-six. On his death, and in Napoleon's absence, Menau, aged and inefficient, succeeded by right of seniority to the command of the army of Egypt. Its utter ruin was the almost immediate consequence.

Massena first entered the army at seventeen, but soon married a rich wife, and retired to civil life. He returned to the army at the opening of the revolution, and in two years, before the age of thirty-five, was promoted to the rank of general of division. He immediately acquired that high reputation which he sustained through a long career of military glory.

Soult became a sub-lieutenant at twenty-two, a captain at twenty-four; the following year he passed through the several grades of chef-de-bataillon, colonel, and general of brigade, and became general of division at twenty-nine.

Davoust was a sub-lieutenant at seventeen, a general of brigade at twenty-three, and general of division at twenty-five.

Eugene Beauharnais entered the army at a very early age. He became chef-de-bataillon at nineteen, colonel at twenty-one, general of brigade at twenty-three, and Viceroy of Italy at twenty-five. He soon proved himself one of Napoleon's ablest generals. At twenty-eight he commanded the army of Italy, and at thirty-one gained great glory in the Russian campaign, at the head of the fourth corps d'armee.

Gouvion-Saint-Cyr enured the army at the beginning of the Revolution, and passing rapidly through the lower grades, became a general of brigade at twenty-nine, and a general of division at thirty.

Suchet became a chef-de-bataillon at twenty, general of brigade at twenty-five, major-general of Brune's army at twenty-seven, and general of division and of a corps d'armee at twenty-eight.

Oudinot became a captain at twenty-three, chef-de-bataillon at twenty-four, general of brigade at twenty-five, and general of division at twenty-eight.

Ney was a captain at twenty-three, adjutant-general at twenty-six, general of brigade at twenty-seven, and general of division at twenty-nine.

Lannes was a colonel at twenty-seven, general of brigade at twenty-eight, and very soon after general of division.

Joubert became adjutant-general at twenty-five, general of brigade at twenty-six, general of division at twenty-eight, and general-in-chief of the army of Italy at twenty-nine. He died at thirty.

Victor was a chef-de-bataillon at twenty-seven, general of brigade at twenty-nine, and general of division at thirty-two.

Murat was a lieutenant at twenty, and passing rapidly through the lower grades, he became a general of brigade at twenty-five, and a general of division at twenty-seven.

Mortier was a captain at twenty-three, adjutant-general at twenty-five, general of brigade at thirty, and general of division at thirty-one.

Macdonald was a colonel at twenty-seven, a general of brigade at twenty-seven, and a general of division at thirty.

Marmont was a captain at twenty-one, chef-de-bataillon at twenty-two, general of brigade at twenty-four, inspector general at twenty-seven, and general-in-chief of an army at thirty-two.

Bernadotte was a colonel at twenty-eight, general of brigade at twenty-nine, and general of division at thirty.

Lefebvre was made a captain at the organization of the army in 1793; he became a general of brigade at thirty-eight, and general of division at thirty-nine.

Bessieres entered the army at twenty-six, became a colonel at thirty, general of brigade at thirty-two, and general of division at thirty-four. He died at forty-seven.

Duroc was a captain at twenty-three, chef-de-bataillon at twenty-six, colonel and chef-de-brigade at twenty-seven, and general of division at thirty. He died at forty-one.

This list might be still further extended with the same results, but names enough have been given to show that the generals who assisted Napoleon in his immortal campaigns were all, with scarcely an exception, young men, still burning with the fires of youthful ardor and enthusiasm. The grade of marshal was not created till after Napoleon became emperor. On ascending the throne of the empire, he nominated to this rank eighteen of the most distinguished generals of France. Some of these were generals of the earlier wars of the Revolution, and had never served under him. Others were younger men, several being only thirty-four, thirty-five, and thirty-six years of age. The mean age of all was forty-four. He afterwards made seven more marshals, whose mean age was forty-three. These appointments, however, were regarded as rewards for past services, rather than as a grade from which service was expected, for several of the older marshals were never called into the field after their promotion.

Having noticed the ages of the principal generals who commanded in the armies of Napoleon, let us look for a moment at those who opposed him. In the campaign of 1796 the enemy's forces were directed by Beaulieu, then nearly eighty years of age; Wurmser, also an octogenarian, and Alvinzi, then over seventy: these had all three distinguished themselves in earlier life, but had now lost that youthful energy and activity so essential for a military commander.

In the campaign of 1800 the general-in-chief of the Austrian forces was Melas, an old general, who had served some fifty years in the army; he had distinguished himself so long ago as the Seven Years' War, but he had now become timid and inefficient, age having destroyed his energy.

In the campaign of 1805 the French were opposed by Kutusof, then sixty, and Mack, then fifty-three; the plan of operations was drawn up by still more aged generals of the Aulic council.

In the campaign of 1806 the French were opposed by the Duke of Brunswick, then seventy-one, Hohenlohe, then sixty, and Mollendorf, Kleist, and Massenbach, old generals, who had served under the great Frederick,—men, says Jomini, "exhumed from the Seven Years' War,"—"whose faculties were frozen by age,"—"who had been buried for the last ten years in a lethargic sleep."

In the campaign of 1807 the French were opposed by Kamenski, then eighty years of age, Benningsen, then sixty, and Buxhowden, then fifty-six. The Allies now began to profit by their experience, and in 1809 the Austrian army was led by the young, active, skilful, and energetic Archduke Charles; and this campaign, although the commander-in-chief was somewhat fettered by the foolish projects of the old generals of the Aulic council, and thwarted by the disobedience of his brother, was nevertheless the most glorious in the Austrian annals of the wars of the Revolution.

At the opening of the campaign of 1812 the Emperor Alexander, young, (only thirty-five,) active, intelligent, and ambitious, had remodelled his army, and infused into it his own energy and enthusiastic love of glory. He was himself at its head, and directed its operations. Kutusof was for a short time the nominal commander-in-chief, and exhibited an activity unusual at his age, but he was surrounded by younger generals—Barclay-de-Tolley, and Miloradowich, then forty-nine, Wintzengerode, then forty-three, Schouvalof, then thirty-five, and the Archduke Constantine, then thirty-three,—generals who, at the heads of their corps, and under the young emperor and his able staff of young officers, in the two succeeding campaigns, rolled back the waves of French conquest, and finally overthrew the French empire. Wellington, who led the English in these campaigns, was of the same age as Napoleon, and had been educated at the same time with him in the military schools of France. The Austrians were led by Schwartzenburg, then only about thirty, and the Prussians by Yorck, Bulow, and Bluecher. The last of these was then well advanced in life, but all his movements being directed by younger men,—Scharnhorst and Gneisenau,—his operations partook of the energy of his able chiefs of staff.

In the campaign of 1815, Napoleon was opposed by the combinations of Wellington and Gneisenau, both younger men than most of his own generals, who, it is well known, exhibited, in this campaign, less than in former ones, the ardent energy and restless activity which had characterized their younger days. Never were Napoleon's, plans better conceived, never did his troops fight with greater bravery; but the dilatory movements of his generals enabled his active enemies to parry the blow intended for their destruction.

In the American war of 1812, we pursued the same course as Austria, Prussia, and Russia, in their earlier contests with Napoleon, i.e., to supply our armies with generals, we dug up the Beaulieus, the Wurmsers, the Alvinzis, the Melases, the Macks, the Brunswicks, and the Kamenskis of our revolutionary war; but after we had suffered sufficiently from the Hulls, the Armstrongs, the Winchesters, the Dearborns, the Wilkinsons, the Hamptons, and other veterans of the Revolution, we also changed our policy, and permitted younger men—the Jacksons, the Harrisons, the Browns, the McReas, the Scotts,[49] the Ripleys, the Woods, the McCombs, the Wools, and the Millers—to lead our forces to victory and to glory. In the event of another war, with any nation capable of opposing to us any thing like a powerful resistance, shall we again exhume the veterans of former days, and again place at the head of our armies respectable and aged inefficiency; or shall we seek out youthful enterprise and activity combined with military science and instruction? The results of the war, the honor of the country, the glory of our arms, depend, in a great measure, upon the answer that will be given to this question.

[Footnote 49: Scott had acquired his military reputation, and attained the rank of major-general at twenty-eight.]

But it may be asked, how are we to secure this combination of military instruction and military energy; how are we to fill the higher grades of our army with young and active men possessing due military instruction and talent? The question is not a difficult one, and our government can easily attain the desired object, if it will only set at work honestly, disregarding all party prejudices and the mercenary and selfish interests of its own members and advisers. Other governments have pointed out to us the way. It is this: let merit be the main test for all appointments and promotions in the army. Let one or more of the subordinate grades be thrown open to the youth of the whole country, without distinction as to birth, or wealth, or politics; let them be kept on probation in this subordinate grade, and be thoroughly instructed in all that relates to the military profession; after strict examination let them be promoted to the vacancies in the higher grades as rapidly as they shall show themselves qualified for the duties of those grades, merit and services being here as elsewhere the only tests.

The first part of this rule is already accomplished by the Military Academy. One young man is selected from each congressional district, on an average, once in about two years, the selection being made by the representative of the district; these young men are made warrant officers in the army, and sent to a military post for instruction; frequent and strict examinations are instituted to determine their capacity and fitness for military service; after a probation of a certain length of time, the best are selected for commission in the army, relative rank and appointments to corps being made strictly with reference to merit; birth, wealth, influence of political friends—all extraneous circumstances being excluded from consideration. What can be more truly and thoroughly democratic than this? What scheme can be better devised to supply our army with good officers, and to exclude from the military establishment the corrupting influence of party politics, and to prevent commissions in the army from being given to "the sons of wealthy and influential men, to the almost total exclusion of the sons of the poor and less influential men, regardless alike of qualifications and of merit?"

Unfortunately for the army and for the country this system ends here, and all further advancement is made by mere seniority, or by executive favoritism, the claims of merit having but little or no further influence. Indeed, executive patronage is not infrequently permitted to encroach even upon these salutary rules of appointment, and to place relatives and political friends into the higher ranks of commissioned officers directly from civil life, "regardless alike of qualifications and of merit," while numbers "of sons of the poor and less influential men," who have served a probation of four or five years in military studies and exercises, and have proved themselves, in some thirty examinations made by competent boards of military officers, to be most eminently qualified for commissions, are passed by in utter neglect! Our army is much more open to this kind of favoritism and political partiality, than that of almost any of the governments of Europe, which we have been accustomed to regard as aristocratic and wholly unfriendly to real merit.

In the Prussian service, in time of peace, the government can appoint no one, even to the subordinate grade of ensign, till he has followed the courses of instruction of the division or brigade-school of his arm, and has passed a satisfactory examination. And, "no ensign can be promoted to a higher grade till after his promotion has been agreed to by the superior board or commission of examiners at Berlin, and his name has been placed on the list of those whose knowledge and acquirements (connaissances) render them qualified (aptes) for the responsible duties of their profession. The nomination to the grade of second-lieutenant is not, even after all these conditions are fulfilled, left to the choice of the government. When a vacancy occurs in this grade, the subaltern officers present to the commandant of the regiment a list of three ensigns who have completed their course of study; the commandant, after taking the advice of the superior officers of the regiment, nominates the most meritorious of these three to the king, who makes the appointment." The government can appoint to the engineers and artillery only those who have been instructed as eleves in the Berlin school of cadets and the school of artillery and engineers, and these appointments must be made in the order in which the pupils have passed their final examination. In these corps the lieutenants and second captains can be promoted to a higher grade only after they have passed a satisfactory examination. No political influence, nor even royal partiality, can interfere with this rule.

Even in the arbitrary monarchies of Austria and Russia it is deemed necessary to subject all military appointments and promotions, in the peace establishments, to certain fixed rules. In the Austrian army all sub-lieutenants must be taken from the military schools, or the specially-instructed corps of cadets and imperial guards; from this grade to that of captain all promotions are made by the commandants of regiments and corps on the advice of the other superior officers. Above the grade of captain all nominations for promotion are made to the emperor by the Aulic Council, in the order of seniority of rank, except the claims of superior merit interfere. "In the Russian army," says Haillot, "no one, not even a prince of the imperial family, can reach the grade of officer till he has satisfactorily passed his several examinations, or finished the severe novitiate to which the cadets in the corps are subjected." Promotion below the grade of colonel is made partly by seniority, and partly by merit; above that grade, by selection alone.

In the British service, rank in the line of the army is obtained by purchase, and the higher grades are in this way filled with young men of energy and enterprise; but this efficiency is gained by injustice to the poor man, who is without the means of purchasing rank. In some respects it is preferable to our ruinous system of exclusive seniority and executive favoritism, but far more objectionable than that based on merit. Wellington has recently said that the system of exclusive seniority would soon utterly destroy the efficiency of the army, by preventing young men from reaching the higher grades. "At first," says an officer of some distinction in the British navy, in speaking of promotions in that arm of service, "it certainly looks very hard to see old stagers grumbling away their existence in disappointed hopes; yet there can be little doubt that the navy, and, of course, the country at large, are essentially better served by the present system of employing active, young, and cheerful-minded officers, than they ever could be by any imaginable system by seniority. It must not be forgotten, indeed, that at a certain stage of the profession, the arrangement by which officers are promoted in turn is already made the rule, and has long been so: but, by a wise regulation, it does not come into operation before the rank of post-captain be attained. Antecedent to this point, there must occur ample opportunities of weeding out those persons, who, if the rule of mere seniority were adopted, would exceedingly embarrass the navy list." We fully agree with this writer respecting the evils of a system of exclusive seniority, but not respecting the best means of remedying these evils. In England, where the wealthy and aristocratic classes govern the state, they may very well prefer a system of military appointment and promotion based exclusively on wealth and political influence; but in this country we are taught to consider merit as a claim much higher than wealth, or rank, or privilege.